thumb|Reality Checkpoint

thumb|Detail of its base with graffiti in 2012

thumb|The inscription after its 2017 restoration and a Dinky Doors sculpture at its base

Reality Checkpoint is the humorous nickname of a large cast-iron lamppost in the middle of Parker's Piece, Cambridge, England, at the intersection of the park's diagonal paths. It gained the nickname in the early 1970s when it first appeared on the lamppost's base as graffiti, possibly by a student. The graffiti was sometimes removed by the local council, but soon reinstated. The nickname is now officially painted on.

Origin of the name

There are three main theories as to the meaning of the name.

  • It may mark the boundary between the central university area of Cambridge (referred to as the "reality bubble") and the "real world" of the townspeople living beyond it. One is warned to check one's notions of reality before passing.
  • The name arose because the lamppost forms a useful landmark for people crossing the park at night – perhaps intoxicated or in the fog – since it is the only light for more than a hundred metres. and work commenced in January 1894, when a pipe was laid from Parkside, running parallel with the path opposite Melbourne Place. Once the connections were completed, the pillar was erected. This attracted a great deal of interest and was described as a "very handsome ornament to the Piece". It was made of cast iron by the Sun Foundry of George Smith & Company in Glasgow. It stands on a square-section plinth with waterleaf decoration on the top edges. The base of the shaft of the circular section is encircled with four intertwined heraldic dolphins. The shaft carries four lampholders by means of scrolled wrought iron stays. It is said to be the oldest electrical lamppost in Cambridge.

A photograph from around 1903 shows the lamppost with a single lamp.

The post above the dolphins was torn down in 1945 by U.S. soldiers celebrating Victory over Japan Day, the end of the war with Japan. In September 1946 the lamppost was repaired by a local metalworks firm, George Lister & Sons. The work was done by foreman Sam Mason, assisted by a young apprentice, Tony Challis, who did the scrollwork at the top of the lamppost. Challis still lives in Cambridgeshire and is also responsible for the ornate railings found at Grantchester Meadows. The current design with four pendant lamps dates from 1946.

In 1996 the lamppost was designated as a Grade II listed building.

In 2016–17 Cambridge City Council restored the lamppost, reinstating its earlier colours of moss green, red, white and gold, and casting any new parts as required.

In 2018 anonymous local art installers, Dinky Doors, installed a reality checker "door" on the checkpoint, which was refurbished in 2019.

Inscription

One report claims that the name was first painted on the lamppost in the early 1970s by students from Cambridgeshire College of Arts and Technology (now Anglia Ruskin University) under the guidance of one of their teachers. In 2017 two brothers, David and Sandy Cairncross, revealed that they had been responsible for repainting it in bright colours in October 1973, a task undertaken with the written permission of Geoffrey Cresswell, the Cambridge City Engineer. "Reality Checkpoint" was scratched on one side of the plinth, while on the opposite side was scrawled "The Comfortably Numb", a reference to a song on the album The Wall by the Cambridge band Pink Floyd.

For the first half of 1998 the lamppost carried an unofficial plaque bearing its name, until it was removed by the council. At that time the lamppost had the words "Reality Checkpoint" scratched into its paintwork in at least two places. The lamppost also features briefly in an episode of the crime drama Professor T., in which Miller plays the eponymous role.

The inscription was restored in June 2017 by the artist Emma Smith, with the approval of the Cambridge City Council, as part of the art project "Hunch" commissioned by the University Arms Hotel.

References

  • "What is Reality Checkpoint?" on cam.wiki
  • "Getting to the bottom of the legend of Reality Checkpoint" on cambridge-news.co.uk